The Google Game is Keep Up Not Catch Up: Interview with Lance Bachmann

Lance Bachmann founded 1SEO.com Digital Agency 7 years ago with a few ideas about how to help businesses build an online presence. Today, that business has grown into a global digital marketing firm with a team of more than 60 digital marketers. Prior to his  UnGagged Las Vegas 2016 session, Lance sat down for an exclusive interview with UnGagged

UnGagged: Tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in SEO.

Lance Bachmann: I’ve been in digital marketing for over a decade. I got my start as an employee at AT&T and eventually went on to become the first employee of YP.com, where I managed over 750 employees. As the first employee, I helped take the company from $0 to being worth over $150 million. During my time there, I saw how critical it was for businesses to have a strong web presence, because I witnessed consumers shift from print to digital up close.

I knew that business owners of all sizes would benefit from setting up a digital campaign, so I branched out to start my own firm in 2009, which began with a focus on SEO and has since evolved into a full-service digital agency that offers the gamut of online marketing solutions.

We’ve since rebranded from 1SEO.com to 1SEO.com Digital Agency, but SEO remains a large part of our business model. The only difference is that now we take an integrated approach to our clients’ marketing by incorporating paid advertising, social media, and content marketing. We laid the foundation with SEO strategies, reporting, and metrics – but now we’re building on that foundation with our other services.

Each year brings changes to the way we view SEO and search marketing, requiring a comprehensive understanding of algorithm changes and updates to the way search engines display results. The best part about this industry is that it’s always changing, and we have to stay on our toes to ensure our clients achieve success.

UnGagged: What will you be speaking about at UnGagged?

Lance: In order to win online, you have to be familiar with the updates and changes Google makes; so I’ll be speaking about how to keep up with the latest advances in order to not only stay relevant, but also increase brand awareness and ROI in the digital space.

Google is announcing a slew of new information and analytical options that help you hone in on your target audience, and I’ll be clueing the audience into these updates. You’ll learn about things like the impact of cross-device remarketing and demographic targeting for search ads.

Some of the other talking points include new forms of targeting and the updated reporting metrics available within AdWords and Analytics. For example, Analytics has included some new features that make it easier to collaborate and understand audience behavior, such as session quality score, which predicts the likelihood of a visitor making a purchase. I’ll dive into the effects of these updates and discuss how to take advantage of these features to hit the ground running in 2017.

UnGagged: In your niche sector, what’s the most annoying SEO misconception?

Lance: When I hear people say that rankings are everything and content is king, they couldn’t be more wrong. The internet is flooded with content. You can have the best blog, but if you don’t have any links pointing to the blog, domain authority to your site, or traffic, your audience won’t find that piece of content through search.

Likewise, with the constant algorithm updates like RankBrain and Hummingbird, Google is moving away from a focus on keywords and looking more at the relevance of the page. How are you answering or adding value to a particular query?

Going into 2017, SEO is all about intent and relevance, and Google will display your results based on these two factors. If you’re deemed a relevant website and appeal to user intent, you’ll see that your traffic and revenue will increase.

UnGagged What is your current favorite SEO tool or platform?

Lance: Google Analytics is the most useful and trusted tool that I use because the metrics don’t lie. I can see everything and get answers to all my questions based on the data in front of me. I’ll see how the site is performing based on previous periods, which pages are strongest, and how visitors are landing on my site.

Diving into the data allows me to see engagement and bounce rate, learn what is working and what should be adjusted, and how much ROI I’m receiving based on my marketing. It provides information about all digital marketing initiatives, including social, paid, and organic.

Plus, it’s free. Once you install the tracking code and a cookie is dropped to each user, the data will continue to update so you can see how users are interacting with your website.

UnGagged: What is the best thing about UnGagged?

Lance: UnGagged brings the best SEO professionals together into one room to discuss the latest news, techniques, and trends in digital marketing. You may think that you’re up to date, but there’s a very good chance you’ll learn multiple things from other speakers. The actionable items that are taken away allow me to bring back thoughts to my team, helping them progress and ensuring our clients progress by taking advantage of new trends learned at UnGagged.